HISTORY OF SALLY ADAMS SNOW Note: I am indebted to Wanda Snow Peterson for her permission to use excerpts from her book, William Snow, The first Bishop of Pine Valley. Mrs. Peterson is one of the few remaining granddaughters of William Snow who are still alive.
My own additions to her history are shown as regular print - not bold.
Sally was born 29 May 1825 in Compton, Lower Canada (Quebec), a daughter of James Adams and Betsy Leavitt Adams. Sally's father was a grandson of John Adams, second president of the United States. She was also a counsin of William's second wife, Lydia. It was through Lydia and the Prophet Joseph Smith that Sally met William. It was becuase of their mutual love for and admiration of the Prophet that Sally was able to understand, accept and enter into a polygamous marriage.
Sally was the eldest of four children. Her father was a proprietor of a small tavern which made a good living for his family until one night the tavern burned down. The neighbors succored the family with gifts of food and lcothing and eventually helped them build a new home.
Sally remained in Canada until she turned thirteen at which time the family had joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and moved to Twelve Mile Grove, Illinois. Remembering those years, Sally wrote in her journal:
Enroute (to Missouri) we stopped a week in Kirtland, Ohio, and visited the mother of the Prophet Joseph Smith. It was then perilous times for him and his people, he was himself in hiding. However, while we were there he appeared and preached to the assembled Saints on Sunday. His followers hung on his words as though they were the words of the Lord. I well remember one incident related by Sister Lucy Smith. While Joseph was translating the Book of Mormon from the Gold Plates, his enemies were pursuing him with vindicative hate. Being hard pressed at one time and fearing the plates would be stolen from him, he rushed into his mother's room to hide them under the hearth. In his hurry he mashed his hand. Sister Smith pointed out the rocking chair in which he sat while she did up his hand. (Celestia Snow Gardner, History of William Snow and Robert Gardner Families, Pioneers of 1847 and 1850 Salt Lake City, Utah: Acorn Printing Company, 1942 p.17The Adams family lived at Twelve Mile Grove, Illinois, until 1843. While in her youth, Sally received the gift of tongues. She spoke occasionally in cottage mettings where her aunts, cousins and uncles were present. Afterwards her cousin, Ann Chamberlain, interpreted the thoughts to the family. This gospel gift was a great comfort to her as a young convert, as well as to her father and other family members. She said it helped all of them to strengthen their testimonies.In Twelve Mile Grove, Sally's father owned a sugar maple farm. One of Sally's fondest memories was of the "sugaring off" when the sap was run from the trees and taken to the huge vats for boiling. Then they made a great celebration of carrying the cakes of sugar to the large barrels for winter storage.
Each year around Thanksgiving time the whole family - aunts, uncles and cousins - gathered from miles around for a happy reunion which lasted the better part of a week. The food was cooked in a mammoth brick oven.
In 1843 the Adams family moved to nauvoo where they heard their Prophet speak many times. Sally writes:
I well remember that June day of 1844, when the announcement reached Nauvoo that the Prophet and Patriarch had been killed by a cruel mob. The news fell like a thunderbolt upon the Saints. Their grief was indescribable. Many thought he, like the Savior, would rise again to become their leader. With hundreds of others I visited the room where he lay in state. Thousands of hearts wrung with profound sorrow. The scene left an impression upon my mind of awful solemnity. (same as above)Sally was in the meeting on 8 August 1844, when Brigham Young spoke in what she said was the voice of the martyred Prophet and seemed to assume the appearance of Joseph. Many believed that the Prophet actually stood there before them.James and Betsy Adams, Sally's parents had a very close-knit family. The children shared with their parents the common hardships and dangers, all of which helped wld them together. One of the earliests and hardest trials Sally faced was the death of her mother in 1848. Sally had always been a frail girl, subject to migraine headaches, and her grief added to her suffering.
Before William married Sally, some of his friends told him he was foolish to marry a girl with health problems because she might not live very long. William replied that he was sure she would outlive him by many years, which she did.